Losing Belly Fat Reduces Risk of Heart Disease and Cancer

How to lose belly fat is the is the focus on all of Dr Lipman’s weight loss plans including the Miami Diet Plan, the 800 Calorie HCG Plan and the 2 Day a Week Fasting Diet Plan. Belly fat, actually the fat inside of the abdomen, causes all of the medical problems from being overweight. It is far more important than the weight on the scale. You many have dieted many times in the past or even be new to dieting, either way, you want to lose the fat and weight permanently and never have to do it again. Dr Lipman has treated more than 40,000 overweight patients and patients with other metabolic problems with great success. His goal for each patient is to produce a weight loss plan that can be maintained from the very first day and then forever. Dr Lipman approaches weight loss as any other medical problem and begins with a medical and dietary history.

Losing belly fat starts with metabolism and nutritional evaluation which is completed as part of your first office visit with Dr Lipman. This is a in-depth evaluation of your metabolism and daily food/drinks and nutrition as it effects your weight and health. Here are some of the measurements and evaluations Dr Lipman will perform on your first office consultations.

Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is based on your height and weight. It relates your body weight to the your height. Its a better measure of your weight since it is not related to frame. Height and body weight are closely related. Using a scale for measurement of obesity does not take into account how tall you are nor does it relate to the complication of weight gain,especially around the abdomen. It can be calculated from the table or from an on-line calculator. In general, the higher the number, the more body fat a person has. BMI is often used as a screening tool to decide if your weight might be putting you at risk for health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. BMI values fall into various groups according to the statistical correlation with medical complications of weight gain. Remember, it does not take into account differences in expected weight by age or gender classifications:

BMI above 39.0 is considered as morbidly obese with serious health consequences and often requiring gastric by pass surgery.

BMI- from 29.9 to 39.9 is considered obese, needing medical treatment a physician and often
medication is required.

BMI – from 25.0 to 29.9 is considered overweight or borderline obese. Weight loss by increased exercise and caloric restriction is suggested. Medications may be needed is complications of obesity are present like heart disease, diabetes, hypertension or severe arthritis.

BMI- below 24.9 is normal
Once you know how your stand, its easier to make some changes.

BMI TABLE

Visceral(Inside the abdomen) vs. Subcutaneous Fat: It’s All About Location of the Fat

If you awake one day with a big belly, and it is soft to poke or jiggles like a bowl of jelly you are safe (or at least for awhile) because it suggests predominantly subcutaneous fat (fat below the skin). On the other hand, if that same big belly is hard – think pregnant woman – then you have fat inside the belly and there is trouble ahead, sooner or later. The difference is good vs. bad fat deposits. In the figure below the belly is soft and flabby suggesting most of fat deposited is subcutaneous:

A French doctor in 1956 was the first to discover that the amount and location of fat deposits were associated with adverse health. Since then, it has clearly been established that chronic disease complications of weight gain are directly associated with the location and the amount of fat. The concept that an apple shape body, with most of the fat around the belly is far more dangerous than a pear shape body with most of the fat in the thighs and buttocks is well accepted.

Fat Around Belly is Typical of Aging

The fact that fat depositions change as we age, is not so well known. A preferential increase in abdominal fat, especially with fat inside the abdomen and decrease in lower body fat has become typical of aging. This can be independent of total fat content, body weight or even waist circumference.

Fat deposits seem to have a life of their own and almost rearrange themselves. The changes are not readily apparent when weight is evaluated the scale, BMI or even waist circumference alone. If you can pinch a large area of fat around the belly, then it’s the safer subcutaneous fat.

Population studies in humans suggest that body weight and fatness increase fifth and sixth decade. Then begins a gradual decline in body weight, muscle mass and minerals in the bones.

WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE; TELLS YOU HOW MUCH FAT IS INSIDE YOUR ABDOMEN

The BMI tells how your weight ranks statistically with other Americans in relation to your height. The WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE shows you how your weight relates to complications of obesity: hypertension, heart disease, cancer, strokes and especially diabetes. These problems are directly related to fat gain inside the abdomen.
Since this fat is hard to measure, the fat around the outside of the belly, the waist circumference is used instead.

Normal women have waist less than 35 inchesNormal men have waist less than 40 inches
Use the table to see the status of your WAIST CIRCUMFERENCE

The Dangerous Fat is FAT Inside the Abdomen: The Visceral Fat

Research on obesity has now concluded that all the excess food we eat and do not use is stored away in ever-enlarging fat cells mostly around our waists and inside our bellies around the abdominal organs: stomach, intestine, spleen. liver. These fat cells do a lot more than just make you look fat. They have the ability to produce dangerous and even life-threatening chemicals that can raise blood pressure, injure blood vessels and cause diabetes and also make us feel always hungry. These conditions do not simply “go along” with being obese, as previously thought. The reality is that these engorged fat cells are the cause of all problems. The only way to reverse the situation and to stabilize vital bodily functions is by forcing these encouraged cells to shrink back to their original size and return to their normal metabolic function.

Metabolic Syndrome:
Fat around the belly and high blood pressure, cholesterol or triglycerides

This syndrome affects ≈25% of the adult US population and is reaching an epidemic spread in parallel to obesity, which is estimated to affect ≈312 million people worldwide. With at least 1.1 billion overweight people, the incidence of the metabolic syndrome is expected to continue to rise,2

How Fat Cause Heart Attacks, Diabetes and Strokes

These engorged fat cells do not sit around our waist passively; they interact with all types of bodily functions. They literally remove chemicals from the bloodstream. They temper with the quality of our insulin, requiring the pancreas to work harder to control our blood sugar levels. Diabetes results when our insulin is no longer able to do this job. Obese individuals with diabetes have both high sugar and high insulin levels and these high levels damage almost every organ in the body. What we develop is insulin resistance–our insulin does not work very well.

Unfortunately, the damage caused by abdominal fat does not end here. This fat releases proteins and various chemicals that are new to the bloodstream; they raise triglyceride levels, blood pressure, blood sugar and cause blood clots, poly-cystic ovaries, as well as heart attacks and strokes. This combination of symptoms in individuals with fat around their waist is called Metabolic Syndrome, the most serious medical problem facing Americans today.

Reducing Abdominal Fat: Exercise and Diet

Adding a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise is the ideal strategy for improving both metabolic and functional health. Even low intensity exercise -15-20 minutes a day several times a week is very beneficial in reducing blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fat and most important belly and abdominal fat.

Dietary changes with reduction in calories and carbs dramatically decreases fat inside the belly. Its the high glycemic index carbs–bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and high sugar foods that rapidly turn to abdominal fat and do most of the damages.

Dr Lipman reviews how excess food turns to fat around the abdomen and how fat cells make dangerous chemicals that circulate thru the body at this seminar at Kaiser University in Miami, Fl 33143:

Sidebar Content

Miami Diet Doctor Can Help You Lose Weight!

Eating all the "healthy" foods?

Exercising and burning 100's of Calories?

So Why Are You Not Losing Weight?

Maybe It's Your Thyroid?

Maybe it's Menopause?

Maybe It's your Metabolism?

Finally a board certified M.D. who specializes in Metabolic Disorders will show you why.